Chapter 559: India Strategy (4)

In fact, the United States does not have a clear understanding of Britain's thoughts on defending India. Britain has actually invested a lot of enthusiasm and effort in defending India.

After General Henry Maitland Wilson led the remnants of the 10th Army that had retreated from Iran into India, the British quickly reorganized the Indian forces and divided them into three armies: South, East, and Northwest:

The Eastern Group Army, which serves as the main force and has been deployed on the India-Burma front for a long time, was reorganized into the 14th Group Army, with Lieutenant General Owen as its commander. 17th, 20th, 23rd, 26th Indian Infantry Division and 254th Indian Tank Brigade), 33rd Army (2nd British and 36th Indian Infantry Division), with a total strength of more than 200,000;

The 10th Group Army is still called the 10th Group Army after being combined with the original G troops. However, the army is weak in strength. It has a nominal establishment of 6 divisions. Among them, 3 units that retreated from the Iranian battlefield are still less than 70% full after replenishment. ;

The main force in the south, also known as the 12th Army, was under the unified command of the Army Headquarters in Ceylon. It was originally to be organized into the 11th Army Group together with the 14th Army. However, after Japan cut off external contacts in the Indian Ocean, the British realized the importance of Ceylon's status. The army was set up separately. In addition to the 3rd Indian Division and the 2nd African Division in southern India, the troops on Ceylon mainly included the 19th and 25th Indian Divisions, the 50th Tank Brigade and the 99th Indian Infantry Brigade.

Overall, the British ground forces in India include a total of 17 division-level designations and 8 brigade-level designations. In addition, the Royal Air Force in India, the Chinese Army in India, the U.S. Army Air Forces in India, etc., the total strength has exceeded 400,000.

Originally, Britain still had an Eastern Fleet stationed in India, but it was ravaged by the mobile fleet commanded by Nagumo in the First Battle of Ceylon, and was later nearly wiped out by Horikichi in the Indian Ocean Battle. The Royal Navy now has only 2 Apart from an auxiliary cruiser, 4 destroyers and a dozen offshore patrol gunboats or supply ships, they have almost no strength. There are only some coastal defense, air defense, and marine forces in major ports such as Mumbai, Kolkata, Colombo, and Trincomalee. There are probably more than 10,000 personnel under the command of the navy.

Among these troops, there are almost 120,000 purely British troops and 250,000 Indian troops (commissioned by British officers). However, the combat effectiveness of the 250,000 British and Indian troops cannot be generalized. Several of them are pure Sikh and Gorkha troops, with a total strength of about 20,000. Their combat effectiveness is extremely strong, even stronger than that of purely British troops. The rest The more than 200,000 Indian troops are not worth mentioning, but they are still a little higher than the Myanmar Independence Army temporarily formed by the Burmese Aung San and the Royal Army of Siam.

The troops stationed in India also have a lot of equipment, including more than 500 tanks of various types and more than 400 aircraft, but they are mainly old models. Take tanks as an example. Most of them are Crusaders and Valentines made in Britain, as well as General Grant who were aided by the United States in the early days. Only less than 100 are newer Shermans. The newly produced Churchill and Firefly tanks are all similar to The Indian Army has no chance; most of the aircraft are old models, and the fighter jets are basically Hurricanes. There are only more than 40 Spitfires, not the latest Spitfire 14, but the Spitfire 8.

From the time when the 10th Army retreated from India to when Madagascar was occupied by the Germans, Britain transported a lot of military supplies, equipment and personnel to India through South Africa, but the scale was far from what it was when it had control of the sea. Most of the time it was in The sneaky delivery by 1-2 merchant ships was ineffective in the eyes of the Americans.

Small-scale smuggling is actually not bad. The 10th Army, which retreated from the Middle East, barely recovered its strength through such efforts. The Royal Navy judged the situation very accurately. Although the Combined Fleet issued a statement to blockade the North Indian Ocean, in fact the main force of the fleet has been participating in the operation. It is impossible to truly block such a large area of ​​​​the ocean. Large fleets may suffer losses, and small-scale transportation Don't be afraid at all.

Later, it was discovered that after the main force of the combined fleet was deployed in North America and Panama, the control of the Indian Ocean became even weaker. Except for the absolute advantage in the Arabian Sea near the Arabian Peninsula and the Horn of Africa, the rest was simply unable to monitor personnel between India and South Africa. The trade with goods still maintains a medium-sized pattern, but the route has to make a big circle. It can no longer follow the coast of East Africa and must go around the periphery of Madagascar. It was not until the fall of the island in May that this channel was finally cut off, but the exchange of supplies between the east coast of India and Australia continued, and the supplies allocated to the Hump Route were mainly transshipped from Australia.

The biggest dissatisfaction of the United States with the Indians lies in their confusing overall thinking and military logic: apart from superficially accepting the management of the China-India-Myanmar Theater, the Southeast Asian Theater with Mountbatten as Commander-in-Chief does not make any other decisions through the China-India-Myanmar Theater. Not only did the United Kingdom fail to report to the Allies its overall defense of India, it also did not explain its next operational plans and intentions, and it was even less willing to integrate all its troops into the unified management of the China-India-Myanmar theater.

As a result, in the land of India, the British army, the US army, and the Chinese troops stationed in India all went their own way and could not be commanded in a unified manner, which made Stilwell often angry. In his opinion, the British were more difficult to deal with than the Chinese. Such complaints and "confusion" reached Roosevelt's ears, leading him to mistakenly believe that Churchill did not want to defend India.

In fact, the British had deeper considerations. They regarded India as their own forbidden fruit and did not want the Americans to intervene before India was clearly threatened. The Indian Army and the US Air Force were temporary deployments made in a hurry when Japan launched an offensive in Burma. According to the British idea, once the Burmese war came to an end and there was no particularly serious threat from India, these troops should be cleared out.

The British Empire certainly could not give India to Japan, but it could not tolerate the United States and China reaching out to India. This is why Mountbatten and the British have always been lukewarm and sarcastic towards Stilwell. In the eyes of the British, relying on the existing forces, it is more than enough to deal with the 15th Army deployed by Japan in Burma - the other side has less than 100,000 troops and less than 100 aircraft. Japan's best Type 97 tanks are not worth mentioning in the eyes of the British.

The British were even more reluctant to let the Chinese army intervene in Indian affairs. They only agreed to let the Chinese army in India receive training in India to prepare for the future counterattack on Burma. Even the British wanted to intervene in the management of the US Air Force in India, but they could not speak up because they needed the United States in other places.

The focus of the three-party conflict was the counterattack on Burma. Stilwell pushed this matter alone. The Chinese authorities were more active in considering opening up the Burma Road to facilitate the transportation of materials, but Mountbatten refused to send ground troops to participate. At most, he sent out the air force to show his appreciation. He even believed that the ultimate goal of the Chinese army in India was to assist Britain in regaining Burma - China sent troops to drive away Japan and then let Britain take over Burma. This made Chiang very dissatisfied. He believed that if the Chinese army attacked the 100,000 Japanese troops, it would definitely not be able to take them down without the participation of 300,000 people and the loss of 100,000 to 150,000 casualties. Even if there were such troops deployed in Yunnan, they could not do so. Could it be that the British could just watch the Chinese shed blood and sacrifice, fight to the death with the Japanese, and then finally take away the victory for nothing?

Stilwell also despised the British behavior of only wanting results and not sending troops. He felt that he could not speak up even if he wanted to be partial. He also did not want the US Army Air Force to take advantage of the British. As a result, the plan to counterattack Burma was constantly delayed. At this time, Lieutenant General Mutaguchi Renya, commander of the 15th Army of the Japanese Army, reported to Tokyo and asked to take the initiative to attack India.

The battle plan caused serious controversy within the Japanese army in Burma. Chief of Staff Major General Obata Nobuyoshi firmly opposed it, believing that the troops were insufficient and the supplies were ineffective. The entire battle plan was completely wishful thinking and "ignored the resistance of the enemy." Mutaguchi Renya insisted on pushing forward the matter, and the argument ended with a telegram to Tokyo requesting the replacement of the chief of staff. However, the result of the reply from the Tokyo headquarters surprised everyone: Mutaguchi Renya, who advocated the attack, was also transferred back to the country by the headquarters and transferred to the reserve. This was not the most shocking thing. The most inexplicable thing was that Lieutenant General Masaharu Homma, who was originally the commander of the 14th Army and had been transferred to the reserve, was re-employed and was planned to serve as the commander of the 15th Army.

This appointment caused a strong shock in the General Staff Headquarters. No one understood why Ishihara Kanji did this. Although everyone also felt that Mutaguchi Renya's plan was not very reliable, it was always better than Masaharu Homma. The General Staff Headquarters was not without better candidates - Itagaki Seishirō, who was now a military counselor and had a close relationship with Ishihara Kanji, hinted that he was willing to take the position with the rank of general, just to lead troops in the front line, but Ishihara Kanji also declined.

Even Prince Tokugawa Tokugawa, the backer of Ishiwara Kanji, was very surprised. On the surface, he signed and released without hesitation, but privately asked why such a notorious coward like Honma Masaharu was chosen to take this important position?

"He fought very badly in the Philippine Campaign, always complaining about inaccurate intelligence, chaotic logistics, and lack of manpower. He completed the mission 4 months later than the headquarters required, and finally let MacArthur escape... Why re-employ such a person?"

"Your Highness, do you think the Burma Campaign can be won?"

Prince Tokugawa Tokugawa shook his head first, then nodded: "It is very difficult, not as optimistic as Mutaguchi Renya said, but if there are capable generals, it is completely possible to fight."

"I don't think so. It is not good to fight India from Burma: there is no advantage in manpower, logistics are very lacking, and there is no naval support. Every step forward will cost a great price." Ishiwara Kanji explained, "Homma Masaharu is relatively timid, but being timid has its advantages. At least he will not act impulsively. As for Itagaki, I am afraid that he will fight in a stalemate in the direction of India..."